The List 8/5 – Ranking The Top 100 Starting Pitchers Every Monday

[pitcher_list_new list_id=”34862″]

 

Fringe Starters

 

 

What is happening!

It’s another week and another edition of the Top 100 Starting Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball.

Before I dive into the player notes, here’s an outline of how I’m handling The List this season:

• Previous/Best/Worst columns removed
  • These took a heavy chunk of loading time and ultimately provided very little value. The change arrows themselves are all that’s needed
• Tiers added
  • As much as I hate making tiers (When do they start and end? How big are the cliffs?), ya’ll have been asking for them and I’m here for all of you. Please understand how hard it is to accurately place them and don’t get too worked up about it.
• Labels added
  • There’s often confusion as to why a pitcher is a spot or two above or below another. These labels should help understand what each pitcher brings to the table, showing that some pitchers may be better or worse for what you need.
  • Hover over them (or tap on mobile) to see each label’s name next to the pitcher.
  • Ratio Focused = Their value lies in you chasing their ERA/WHIP more than strikeouts and Wins.
  • Toby = Boring arm that doesn’t excite you, but you stare at the waiver wire and accept that he just okay enough. You don’t like that he’s around the office, but he gets his work done.
  • Cherry Bomb = Volatile pitchers who are either “super sweet” or “blow up in your face.” Heed warning.
  • Ace Potential = I define an ace as: 3.40 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 24% K rate, 6.0 IPS. It’s why you see some surprising names as having the upside of an ace.
• Fringe Starters added
  • There are always a handful of starters I badly want to add to The List but I don’t have enough room. I’ll always have this table at the end for a collection of starters – in no order – that I also heavily considered, as well as why they could be relevant
  • This will be where IL Players will land. I’ll mention where they would slot when healthy.

Please let me know how you feel about these changes and I’m looking forward to another fun year assessing the wonderful entity that is the SP Landscape.

On to the notes! Remember, these ranks are for 12-teamers in H2H categories leagues.

 

Player Notes

 

• Another Top arm bit the dust with Hyun-Jin Ryu hitting the Il with a neck injury because Dodgeritis is a thing. It’s unclear how long he’s out for, but understand the innate +1 bump given to nearly all.
• Chris Sale fell, but not as much as I’d imagine some would expect – his ceiling is well intact as well are the strikeouts and with some bad matchups behind him, Sale will win weeks across the next two months.
• I served a drop to David Price as he simply hasn’t found his rhythm over the last month. Yu Darvish and Jack Flaherty are close behind as they’ve been incredibly impressive over the same period, plus Cole Hamels returned to fanfare and should be a strong option the rest of the way.
• Zac Gallen saw a significant bump as he’s pitching on point as of late (this move has nothing to do with his trade to Arizona, which is a lateral move overall, maybe a few wins but worse home park), while Kenta Maeda hasn’t pitched five full frames since July 12th.
• Our poster boy Aaron Sanchez heads to the bottom of Tier 5 as his move to Houston only helps, including reinforcement of his recently tweaked repertoire.
• Tier 6 is filled with names that keep rising each week. Mike Fiers continues his unreal streak, Alex Wood looked sharp against the Braves, and Brad Keller still has two ticks more velocity than the spring.
• Tier 7 has some surprises. Mike Foltynewicz is returning to the majors but we just don’t know what we’re going to get yet. Devin Smeltzer has taken injured Michael Pineda’s place in the rotation and could stick around for solid value for weeks. Reynaldo Lopez isn’t throwing as hard as two weeks ago and faces a tough schedule, forcing a drop, while Drew Smyly should be added in the short term and Dustin May could be a strong asset for the Dodgers. Joe Musgrove and Asher Wojciechowski are trending in the wrong direction, Jake Junis has pitched well despite poor end lines, and Alex Young joins the List despite sub 90 mph velocity as a possible Toby.
• Vince Velasquez has turned into a decent streaming option, Spencer Turnbull is making his return from the IL Monday and we have no idea how he’ll perform, Chase Anderson is hot but is sure to cool down, and Taylor Clarke’s slider makes him a possible streaming strikeout option.
• Daniel Norris finally makes it onto The List with improved velocity and refined secondary pitches in his slider and changeup, while the possible rebound of Marco Gonzales and surprise of Pedro Payano have lost their helium.

(Photo by Justin Paradis – @FreshmeatComm)